‘We provide her with good chickenfeed,’ Rushia chimed in. ‘It’s all category four stuff, and keeps him happy.’
‘Now, I really must go, if you’ll all excuse me.’ Wanda stood to attention facing M, who, Bond noted with a wry smile, did not look her in the eyes.
‘Yes. Yes. Carry on, Ms er . . . Carry on.’
‘So what magic information has she wheedled out of our man?’ Bond asked, with little conviction, once Wanda Man Song Hing had left the cabin.
‘Y’don’t trust our little Wanda, do you, James?’ from Rushia, stone-faced in a manner that made Bond very uncomfortable.
‘It’s not that I don’t trust her, it’s the facts of life. Sexpionage, as the tabloids call it, can backfire. To tell you the truth, Ed, I’m more worried for her than anything.’
‘Pretty rich, coming from you, Bond,’ M huffed. ‘I suggest you just stay silent while we tell you exactly what Ms Man Song Hing has uncovered for us. More to the point, how she has found a way for you to get close to this odd fish, Brokenclaw.’
Bond, a shade on his dignity, nodded, folded his arms and waited, glancing from one to the other.
Rushia began. ‘First thing you should know is pretty obvious. Brokenclaw Lee is almost paranoid about treachery – treachery to him personally. He has a very few people who work at close range with him and most of them are pretty weird with names like Big Leu and Luk See. There are others. Among his heavies are a couple of charming Chinese called Bone Bender Ding and Frozen Stalk Pu. Try those on for size. But the one thing Wanda was really able to establish is that Lee does not trust his masters in China. There’s no doubt that he’s put a nice package together with most of the details of Lords and Lords Day. But it appears that he does not trust any of his own mob to deliver the stuff to CELD.’ He looked towards M, as though asking permission to continue. M gave him a small affirmative nod.
‘So, James, CELD are sending their own couriers to analyse the material on the spot and take it out of the country.’
‘When?’
M answered, ‘Very soon, 007. In fact, they’re here already.’
‘In the US?’
M nodded. ‘You see, Cuckoo, as I would rather call her, made certain that she overheard some of the more sensitive conversations. First she heard of visitors expected between 27th of this month and 7th October. There was no firm date. When she gave us this information she also told us that, because of his paranoia about betrayal, the couriers were to be led quite a dance before they actually got to Mr Lee. Incidentally, his is a wise paranoia – the price of freedom, so to speak. It is the motive force behind his ability to appear and disappear almost at will. You have to be alert constantly, have a fine-tuned instinct and a lot of the aforesaid paranoia to do that.’
‘The couriers,’ Bond prompted. ‘They came in from China?’
‘From Beijing to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Tokyo, then JAL into New York. Cuckoo’s information was that, as soon as they arrived in New York, they were to call a number here in San Francisco where there would be an exchange of passwords. Verification that they were the right people. After that had been established, they would be told where to go and whom to speak with . . .’
‘A sort of treasure hunt,’ Bond smiled.
‘Gee whizz, James, right on the button. Lee’s own expression. Wanda heard him say, “then we start the treasure hunt. At the end we will be certain they are the right people, and that they are loyal to their masters in Beijing, as well as to us”. Yep, a nice little treasure hunt.’
‘You have surveillance on them?’
M gave one of his rare smiles which lit up his eyes. ‘You might say so, yes, James. Would you call it surveillance, Commander Rushia?’
The American made a small puffing movement with his lips as though playing an invisible instrument. ‘I’d call it, very close surveillance with chemical fringe benefits.’
‘Please explain, sir.’ Bond sounded irritated.
‘Well, you see, 007, we knew three things from Cuckoo. One, the time frame; two, the port of entry; three, the fact that there were two couriers, a man and a woman – the man a Caucasian, probably British, the young woman a Chinese.’
‘From our own resources – our China watchers – and in a very short space of time, we were able to identify the pair. Which is more than Brokenclaw Lee has been able to do, and we’re naturally very proud of this. Shows we’re not the dinosaurs the press would have people believe. Anyway, the couple arrived separately at JFK New York on JAL flight 06 a couple of days ago, which, if you look in your diary, means right at the start of the time scale. Lucky for us, eh, Rushia?’
‘Not a case of luck, sir. Just excellent work . . .’ Ed turned towards Bond. ‘We had ’em picked up. Very quietly, no scenes, no fuss, hooray for us.’
‘And?’ Slowly Bond was beginning to get the picture.
‘And, as I told you, they’re here.’ M was like a magician producing doves from the air.
‘Ah. You mean,’ Bond said, very slowly, ‘you mean literally here, sir. On this ship?’
M nodded. ‘They’ve been spending time with some good friends of yours, who, I think, have now got all the information we require.’
‘God help them.’ Once, with feeling, then again, for the insurance, ‘God help them.’ It all fell into place in Bond’s head, a logical piece of neat and symmetrical sleight of mind. ‘I presume I am to play the Brit.’
‘On the button again, James.’ Rushia gave a wide grin.
‘And who’s the lucky one cast as the girl? Not Ed here?’
‘Commander Rushia will have you both under his eye all the time and we trust the FBI will also be on hand.’ M was still smiling. ‘You see, they’ve got it into their heads that both you and Rushia are suspect. Actually, the commander’s work will be to left foot the FBI if they move in too close and frighten off the big players.’
‘But, as I asked before, who’s sharing the billing?’
‘Nice little thing, Bond. First real operation so you might have to ease her along. CIA provided her. Name of Sue Chi-Ho, known as Chi-Chi Sue to her friends . . .’
‘Has no enemies either,’ supplied Rushia quietly, but M went on.
‘She’s a Cantonese speaker, worked for US Navy Intelligence, then the Agency took her in. Just finished the course at the Farm.’
The Farm was Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, the CIA’s training facility.
‘And I’ve got to nurse her through what could be a very dangerous operation?’
M looked him in the eyes and then turned away as he said, ‘Yes, possibly lethal, 007. But I think you’ll find she’ll be up to snuff. Good girl.’ Then he asked Rushia if he could possibly bring Sue Chi-Ho to them.
As the commander left the cabin, M picked up the red telephone and pressed two numbers. ‘Everything in order?’ he asked. Then, ‘Good. Yes, tell him to finish up now and stand by for the briefing . . . Yes, yes, he’s here . . . You are sure they’re both cleaned out. I want to be assured of every point, after all it was the Chinese who pioneered what they call “Thought Reform” . . . Really? . . . Yes, very interesting, he’ll have to write a paper for us some time. I’ll call when I’m ready.’ He cradled the instrument and looked up at Bond.
‘If you decide to turn down this operation, everyone’ll understand. I have to say that because we really are in deep water. Don’t want to say this to Rushia but we’ve had Orr go over Cuckoo’s debriefs. She’s been very thorough. Good memory, and she’s provided verbatim reports on all her conversations with Brokenclaw. Orr says that as well as a suspicious paranoia, the man also shows dangerous psychopathic tendencies.’